ZoNa 1: The Beginning
by shipfiend
Summary: (UPDATED) This will be PART 1 in a series of ZoNa works. -WHO: Nami x Zoro -WHAT: Nami's Birthday -WHEN: After Arlong Park -WHERE: Merry Go! Rating is low, but I do advise that the continuity of this story will get LEMONY!
1. Shit!

_I do not own anything, and the following is purely fictional based on characters in One Piece. I know Oda talks about not putting in romance because "the boys that watch this show don't want that" but then goes on to sexualize women with unbelievable bodies and actions...so, I DO WHAT I WANT. HUMPH. Lol_

 _"When life gives you ships, make lemons."_

* * *

Arlong Park was weeks ago, but for some unknown reason it lingers in Nami's heart. Her crew, mostly Sanji and Usopp noticed, decided to throw a party for her birthday.

July 3rd is actually months away, but they will not take no for an answer. Sanji cooks delicious meals such as roasted duck meat with tangerine sauce, and to Sanji's dismay, they learn of her abhorrent dislike for orangettes.

Now, as she sips her drink and listens to funny stories, the evening changes pace. Sanji decides to call upon his fellow crewmen and poetically list reasons they appreciate Nami. Usopp references her strength, not taking into note the moment she stabbed her own hand instead of him to deter both them and Arlong's men. Sanji, of course, takes most of the time to correct everyone else and rattle on about beauty and body. While she watches Luffy sticking various things up his nose, the question is passed to Zoro.

Zoro sits with his back against a barrel, and of course, he looks like he is asleep. Usopp goes to poke him, but hears a vehement "I'm thinking" to his intrusion. They joke about him being deep in thought, Sanji brings a nerve or two to pulse at Zoro's temple. Through the noise and laughter, in a clear strong voice Zoro says, "She's our navigator."

Everyone face palms at his apparently serious answer. " _Of course_ she's our navigator, you stupid marimo. That's not why we appreciate Nami-swan."

Nami looks to Zoro, but her mind is elsewhere. The party feels forced. She knows that as long as Luffy gives his support to her being a Strawhat Pirate, it doesn't matter if others disagree. They are a crew, but it still feels strange to her considering what she has done to them. The past is the past, but it still haunts her. Like her saving Zoro when he tested her allegiance, and the fact that he wouldn't take Arlong's words for their face value. She appreciated that, and yet, she punched him in the gut not knowing how weak his body was. So many others would have been ready to kill her, and yet this crew now sits across from one another while Zoro is forced to tell her what he appreciates about her.

Nami grips the glass in her hand and the pain in her left arm flashes. The tattoo is not the worst; it's just sometimes her mind goes to a dark place. The pain comes and goes now, but only when she lingers in the past and the memories pour over her like hot oil.

She doesn't want to be here right now. Nami doesn't want to fake a laugh, because she wants everyone to like her again. She just…wants to be trusted.

Just then Zoro and Sanji's bickering comes to a close. Zoro pushes Sanji's kicks away with his katana.

"LIKE I SAID YOU RETARDED LOVE COOK! SHE NAVIGATES US TO OUR DREAMS!"

 _Zoro is known for many things: his wrath, his fighting, his power...but his poetic words? No, not so much_ , Nami thinks.

Everyone stops laughing and murmuring to look at him. He simply slides _Sandai Kitetsu_ back into its sheath and crosses his arms in his stoic self-approval.

It is Luffy, with chopsticks sticking out of his nose, who speaks with a tilt of his head, "Nani? I don't understand. Nami's dream and my dream and your dream are different."

Zoro opens his eyes to see the rest of the crew locking eyes with him, as if he has grown a second head, or in Sanji's mind, a brain.

"Tsk! Dammit. Do I need to explain everything?" He says with exasperation, running his hand along the back of his head. They all nod ceremoniously, as if listening to a great secret being revealed.

Zoro locks eyes with Nami and grows warm. _She looks so sad...as if wanting to hear the perfect answer, as if wanting to throw all that happened between her and us on Arlong Park into the sea._ He knows what shame and guilt feels like. He channels all of his into his dream...a dream he took from someone he can never give it back to. He looks at her, and for some reason, smiles.

"Luffy. I mean that she gives us direction. Without her, we would aimlessly roam these waters and never get anywhere. Never grow. Never develop. She helps us navigate to our dreams and that is...because we trust her. We trust her to take care of this ship, our goals, and us. I know I didn't really know what or where I was going until you found me, Luffy. And neither of us knew where we were going until Nami stepped in. No matter how or why she did that...she's with us now. I am confident in her ability to protect my dream."

In the dead silence, the ocean caresses the ship and birds call in the distance. Zoro still locks eyes on Nami until a boot launches him onto his side.

"You stupid marimo. This isn't about you or Luffy! Nami-swan isn't here for you, you idiot swordsman!"

And just like that, the laughter progresses as the crew mocks Zoro for his tough delivery of fanciful words. Usopp and Luffy take turns making their faces smug and downcast, while trying to maintain Zoro's hard and deep voice.

Nami simply blinks. She blinks quickly so that the tears will not run down her pink cheeks. Luffy promised her she wouldn't cry again...and yet, that is what she needs now. She bites her lip and feels a drop fall into her cup.

Never has Zoro shown any sign of trust in her like that. At least not in words. He is not a man of words; he is one of action. Never had she felt like she was an equal member of the team. Strength wise, she felt Usopp and her were always being protected...or scared. However, for the powerful, at times scary, and constantly clueless Zoro to look at her, give her his trust in words..., and more so, say his dream was in her hands, she feels something rising in her. It is confidence in more than just her skills. It is confidence in her character. In herself. _All thanks to that dumb swordsman._

Luffy feels her silence and tension. He quickly turns to her to ask, "Nami, what's wrong?"

Everyone stops their actions to inquire about her. She starts sobbing, and Sanji is quick to turn heated eyes at Zoro. Luffy hides his face under the brim of his hat, only showing a stern tight line instead of a smile. However, the sobbing noises quickly become loud exhales. Laughing. Nami is laughing. As she wipes a tear out of the corner of her eye and her face beams up at them, she shoots up off her barrel. She closes the space between her and Zoro, while everyone watches her mischievous grin spread across her face.

"Wow, Zoro. I didn't know you cared for me like that."

Zoro draws back as Nami inches closer. His face twists into confusion and fear, as her eyes dance with unknown intent.

"You know this won't lessen what you owe me, Zoro."

Zoro opens his mouth to speak, but silence remains as Nami pushes herself onto her toes and places a kiss on his cheek. As she comes down, she sticks her tongue out and says, "But that just cost ya!"

Nami continues to laugh and walk towards her room, waving "goodnights" to the rest of the crew while Zoro stands flabbergasted. His face shows sheer confusion and a bit of anger, but his heart is beating a beat faster than he likes. Her quiet whisper echoes in his mind, "I promise to take care of our dreams. Thank you."

Just as he is about to infer what she means by the kiss and the thank you and the words, a sharp kick is halted by his blades before it can plant itself into his face.

"How dare you make my precious Nami-swan kiss your filthy ugly mug!"

"I do not control that witch, you perverted curly brow."

As they quarrel on, Usopp stares into the empty place Nami once stood at, and turns to Luffy. "That was weird wasn't it, Luffy?"

Luffy, still with chopsticks in his nose, replies, "Why? Nami is happy. Zoro is right. I always believed in Nami and knew she would keep our ship and our dreams safe. That's why she's our navigator. I never doubted her skills...but maybe Nami needed to hear it like that. And if that made her happy...then I'm happy!"

Usopp looks at his captain, a usually very childish and rash boy, but in this moment, he is very insightful. Usopp looks back at Zoro who is busy arguing and fighting with Sanji, but Usopp sees how Zoro's mind seems elsewhere. He is sure Luffy is right but Usopp feels that there is more that happened between Zoro and Nami just now...but that isn't his business.

* * *

 ** _UPDATED!_**

 ** _So, I wanted to flesh things out more- i.e. Zoro and Nami's POV. So, I've included 2 more chapters for that._**

 ** _For a look into what I am using as my "research", check out the following:_**

 ** _Youtube: watch?v=l-Wa4urWyZ8_**

 ** _zoronamiplus dot weebly_** ** _:_** ** _analyses-of-their-relationship_**

 ** _So just Google the Youtube link, titled "_** ** _Zoro and Nami Moments". The other link is a dot com with a dot between "plus" and "weebly", and the specific page underlined as an html:)_**

 _Originally_ _:_

 _Ah, and just like that PART 1, is up:) I thought of making this just one giant story, but I kinda like that they are "separated" stories, like Book 1, 2, etc._

 _This is, by no means, a book- but I do hope you stay on for the lemons. ALL THE LEMONS~_

 _And, please, give feedback. Reviews. I would love to know what to improve:)_

 _#JesusLovesYou_


	2. Zoro

_Zoro's POV: The Beginning to Arlong Park_

* * *

Zoro makes his way to the men's quarters, but his mind finds him under Nami's mikan trees. He shakes his head in frustration, but lies down nonetheless. The smell is sweet, and the warm wind carries it down to him. He placed his katanas against the tree, and they shine in the moonlight.

He looks at them, and then thinks back to what brought him wandering in the first place. Nami.

He remembered her kicking his katanas! _My katanas!_ These swords were precious to him, and yet…for him to value her over them…it was unbelievable how far he's come in his denial. But…he said thank you to her in that moment. In this strange new friendship they created, he said a damned thank you to the "witch" he swore he hated, but he couldn't. He didn't. He wouldn't. He remembered feeling so stupid for taking her kindness at the Baratie and letting his guard down. That was when she left them. And then even with his wounds, even with Luffy's orders, he wanted to find her himself. He was willing to cut through anything to get to her.

He remembers their ordeal months ago. He put in the past, as he was sure Nami wanted it to be...but tonight brought it all back fresh.

Zoro had never lied so much in his life. He was told to bring her back by Luffy, and he would never disobey his captain. But when he saw the tattoo, the words she was saying- he didn't want to believe. He felt the coldness, the hardness she was using to mask her voice. It would have been passable had it not been for Arlong's words on her mother's death. In that second, after he called her "witch", he knew she was not here of her own accord. She was not loyal to Arlong nor his "invincible crew". No, he knew then…he was right to bring her back. She became the strongest person he could see by trying to mask herself in the face of utter disgust and fear.

As he spun his own lies of "never trusting her from the beginning" or that he could believe she was a possible murderer, she wanted him gone. Saved. But he wouldn't give her the satisfaction of that defeat. No, if she wanted to play the act, she had to prove it to him.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"Same goes to you, what do you think you're doing?"

The words were so easy to say as they gasped for air. As she pulled his wet, heavy body out of the water. As she gripped his hands, and he felt her nails dig into his skin. He knew she hated herself for saving him, but for selfish reason. She didn't want others to save her...she was willing to suffer silently.

She came to him in his dark cell and cut his ropes. Reaching around him, he had to smell the salt water that washed out her familiar vanilla scent. She didn't feel warm, and it wasn't just because she was hanging out with cold blooded fish. No, he felt her darkness and knew better. But she cut his ropes and told him to "leave quickly". The stupid woman even tossed him his katana, but he wouldn't let her fear consume him.

He had enough of her lies but when he wanted to get her to realize the truth, stupid Sanji assumed he was going to hurt her and they fought.

 _Stupid Sanji. Always flirting...acting like an idiot. Idiot curly brow idiot!_

"Zoro, are you okay?"

Zoro opens his eyes to see Usopp tilting his head in wonder.

"Yeah, fine. Why?" Zoro tries to make his voice even, though he knew he was gritting his teeth in his semi-conscious slumber.

"Well, you were just making really scary faces and mumbling about Sanji..." Usopp offers a weary smile, but Zoro does not respond with humor.

"He is a stupid, annoying flirt that thinks he knows everything about-"

"Nami?" Usopp's interruption sends a tiny shiver down Zoro's spine. Zoro lets a minute pass, or at least it feels like it, before he responds.

"What?" Zoro tries to keep his voice even, as he sits up to glare at Usopp.

Usopp registers the hostility and shakes his head in defense, "No, no. I meant he talked to you on her behalf, though she clearly didn't mind what you said."

Zoro shrugs and presses himself the tree to maintain his cool composure. "Yeah, I guess. He's just a lovesick moron."

"Pot. Kettle." Usopp mumbles with a turn of his head and under covered hands.

Zoro glares back. "What was that?"

"Oh, nothing. Nothing. I should go to bed! Night, Zoro." Usopp flusters and quickly launches himself towards the men's quarters.

Zoro frowns at the exchange. _Why is everyone psychoanalyzing me tonight?_

He looks to the night sky and listens to the quiet of the ship. The splashing waves bring him back to his original thoughts.

 _Stupid love cook didn't get it…_

Zoro didn't need to hear Nojiko's explanation to know Nami lost someone and that Arlong was no nakama to her. He knew. He even gave her a thumbs down when battling him; to prove to her that no matter his wounds, Arlong was going down. And though he may not have done it alone, he kept that promise. He owed Nami that much. He wondered if she knew that…

Zoro hates how much she's on her mind now...how he is second guessing their interactions. He tries to relax but grunts a quick "shit" as the breeze takes a ripe mikan to his head.

* * *

 _So, clearly this is a new addition. I literally wanted to flesh out their exchange and thought process before I proceeded._

 _I think I'm going to break up their interactions via arcs, as thus we've gone past Arlong Park._

 _I've been reading this wonderful article: zo_ _ronamiplus dot weebly: reasons-why-zona-in-particular. __The link is a dot com with dot in between "plus" and "weebly", and the specific page underlined is an html:)_

 _Most are from the anime, though there are non-canon moments that are in manga and not in both anime and manga. I tried to keep as true to story as possible, with my own analysis and insight into the why:)_

 _As always, feedback is appreciated._

 _#JesusGiveMeSleep?_


	3. Nami

_Nami's POV: The Beginning to Arlong Park_

* * *

Her steps are so normal at first, a quick walk away from the boys. But as soon as she is out of sight, she just sprints. Then comes to crawl, her legs wobbling strangely. Nami's heels click on the wood, and the echoes bounce off the walls.

She manages to open her door and close it behind her. In the darkness, she slides to the floor, fingers at her lips and thoughts reeling.

When she first met Zoro, she knew he was strong. She knew she wanted to his help…the Pirate Hunter's.

In the perfect world of her dreams, she saw her having enough money to afford him…to kill Arlong. But then she learned…he was a pirate himself.

All her hopes disappeared. He was a pirate, and she had to hate him, too. _Pirates._

But he was a stranger, and yet saved her. He told her to run with them...strangers. Calling her "their navigator". She laughs at the memory, and holds herself.

She remembers looking over a cliff, and Zoro immediately telling her to "be careful". She even went far enough to ask about him. His health. His sleeping off his injuries. She didn't need to care for them, but she did. _Those two hopeless weirdos..._

She even fed them, the ones who were not prepared to sail anywhere. Of course, that caring didn't last.

She giggles now at the thought. When she grabbed onto Zoro when she began slipping in an oil slick, then used him as a stepping-stone to jump to safe ground. He called her "unforgivable" for that.

But when she saw he needed her help and that he was willing to take hits for Usopp and her sake, she had her right shoulder sliced into for his katanas. Ones she noticed were stolen off his hips before he could even fathom it. She had furiously kicked them to him, but he got them nonetheless.

Nami rubs her toes, remembering the weight of the katanas on her foot and the warm sting in her shoulder. It was so long ago...yet it felt fresh tonight. As if every memory they shared thus far were now on a scale of importance.

The heaviness sents in her heart as the scar burns again.

She remembers him being tied up. She was trying not to notice the giant bandages over his whole body, trying to play it cool, calm, collected...as she spouted lie after lie with Arlong. It burned in her throat: the words she said before him. She said he was "just another victim". And in that moment, it wasn't a lie.

She stole from them, sure, but it felt much worse…as if seeing his face when she was as uncaring as she could possibly muster, as much as she could fake…that broke her.

Yet what broke her more, what shattered her, was when Arlong said she could have forgotten her mother's death for money. In that moment, her blood stopped. Her fear and ache and sick rose in her and she knew Zoro saw it. Arlong called her a "cold-blooded witch".

For that moniker to be linked to his lying mouth…it was cruel irony that Zoro was the on the receiving end. _Did he hate the way Arlong took his nickname for me?_

He had to have been angry...angry enough with her to jump. She grits her teeth, _that idiot- while tied and wounded- jumped with a smug smile on his face. What did the smile say?_

That smile said she would have to fight him…with her will. If she had the will to continue the charade of being Arlong's comrade, she needed to prove it. She listened while the fishmen joked about his weakness and idiotic suicide. She knew it was the smartest move he could have made...to prove something to her.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"Same goes to you, what do you think _you're_ doing?"

She laughs now, quietly. Like always, they bickered...but it was so much more weighty. He had bet his life on her, and Nami was willing to break herself again to keep up the lie. But Zoro wasn't buying it.

Zoro challenged her when all she wanted was for him to leave her alone…to suffer…to die. But he didn't do it, and she hated that he thought so greatly of her. If she needed to push his wounds, if she needed to break his faith in her...for him to leave her…she would, but that stupid swordsman, he wouldn't let go.

Even when she threw his katana at his unbound feet, she didn't dare stay long least he convince her of his conviction. She wanted them to leave, but Nami knew that the moment she put faith and trust in two weirdos, she was stuck for as long as they'd have her. And they did...they wanted her.

Nami smiles, but the smile disappears as the smell of blood rises in her memory.

Arlong was playing with him, but when he pulled on the bandage, the wound sprayed everywhere. She couldn't believe he had dived in that pool, came after him, returned again...all with that wretched mark across his body. The stabbing of her arm had passed, but there was a phantom pain…watching him then, she felt the knife dive in her again, twisting around at her own inability to do better by him.

Before her past can cover her again, she looks at her warm and wet hands as they catch her falling tears. Nami wants to cry, but what starts as a painful sob becomes quiet sniffles. She licks her dry lips and remembers where they were just moments ago.

Nami wonders why this moment feels different. She is no fool to physical touch and the power she has with it. She uses her body on Zoro, but it never seems to faze him. It was a promise she made the moment Zoro called her a witch for taking advantage of Sanji's chivalry. Not that she is trying very hard. Nonetheless, this is different. It doesn't faze him. It fazes her.

"Oh no," she says, "Do I think…I maybe…kinda…like him?"

Minutes pass and a loud "shit!" is heard from Nami's room.

* * *

 _This is another addition._

 _Again, I felt for me to get to those lemons- I need to pay homage to all the progress they've made thus far. You don't just have intimate steamy interactions without some good groundwork._

 _So, bare with me until I strip this ship bare of fluff and break their attraction to each other as a science: Z + N = #YAS_

 _For a look into what I am using as my "research", check out the following:_

 _Youtube: watch?v=l-Wa4urWyZ8_

 _zoronamiplus dot weebly_ _: east-blue-saga_

 _So just Google the Youtube link, titled "Zoro and Nami Moments", and the other link is a dot com with dot in between "plus" and "weebly", and the specific page underlined is an html:)_

#JesusI'mInTooDeep


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